pop, which is essentially that Dad did it and Mom helped cover up the crime by writing the ransom note; or that Mom went into a homicidal rage at her daughter's recurrent bed-wetting ("In my opinion, the wife snapped"); or that JonBenét's ten-year-old brother, Burke, is the killer and his parents are protect- ing him ("Poor kid, he must have hated her!"). The Globe also published several fairly far-out versions of the "intruder" theory (e.g., "Based on all the evidence, I feel the Little Beauty pageants are a part of a larger, organized child abduc- tion ring and a front for things like child pornography") . From the beginning, the public's frustration over the absence of an arrest was exacerbated by squabbling between the Boulder police and the district attorney's office, which were stuck in a morass of surly accusations, stalemates, shifting alliances, and contravening orders about the handling and sharing of evidence. In October, Commander John Eller, who led the police investiga- tion, was replaced. A month later, the police chie Tom Koby, announced that he was planning an early retirement. The only person still firmly in place among the key people in the investi- gation is Alex Hunter, the sixty-one- year-old District Attorney of Boulder County. Hunter didn't agree with El- ler early on that the Ramseys should be arrested, and he has been much more cautious than the police in speculating about who the perpetrator is. As a consequence, he has been accused of incompetence, cowardice, and partiality toward the Ramseys' well-connected attorneys. This disturbs him. "In all my poli tical life, these kinds of allegations have never been raised before," he says. "There is a shadow hanging over me. People are taking shots at what I think may be one of the best, if not the best, efforts at the very difficult goal of getting as close to justice as you can." Hunter says adamantly that "the case against the Ramseys is unfilable" thus far; that is, that it couldn't be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The First Assistant District Attorney, Bill Wise, agrees with his boss, al- though he admits that he once felt rea- sonably confident-maybe eighty-five per cent sure-that a case could be made against the parents. Now, he says,"I'm not at a forty, but I'm down in the sixties." Should Hunter ultimately file against the Ramseys, he will have to declare which pieces of evidence point to which defendant. And that is some- thing that Hunter knows he cannot do. "The Ramseys would be out on bail within hours," he says. T HE majority of child homicides are committed at home by parents, relatives, or people responsible for tak- ing care of the victims, which means that DNA, fingerprints, and almost ev- ery other type of physical evidence from the chief suspects are all over the crime scene. The suspects live or work there, and evidence of their presence is not a clue to anything. This makes for a forensic nightmare, but, even so, in the Ramsey case "the cops felt they had a slam dunk," Hunter recalls. "In those first weeks we thought we had semen [on JonBenét's body], and then we learned we didn't. That changed the case drasti- cally." Incest was no longer a likely mo- tive. The coroner had found "chronic irritation" to the girl's vaginal tissues, but that did not necessarily prove sexual abuse. "Digital penetration" was the phrase the experts used when they eval- uated the autopsy report. The pene- tration could have been- accomplished with a finger or some object, and mas- turbation is not uncommon in a child JonBenét's age. Her pediatrician, Dr. Francesco Beu said that he had never seen any evidence that she was being sexually abused. She was a chronic bed wetter, and seemed to have incontinence problems, which could have caused the irritation. Alex Hunter says that there is noth- ing in the background of either John or Patsy Ramsey that indicates the pathology usually associated with this kind of murder. He says that family history, parental behavior, J onBenét's school activities, and the child's person- ali ty are not typical of cases of child abuse. Patsy was a regular volunteer at the children's school, and the family were devout members of St.John's Episcopal Church. Despite the fact that he trav- elled frequently on business, John Ram- sey impressed friends and neighbors as a devoted father. "There is nothing negative in this child's life-not even one instance of 33 NEW CONCEPT DESIGN *1;W .' .:" on'" ..... :. Wf Jí1 . I "" .,r ' ...:I..2. ) 1 1 ''';:1.. , . -Ä . 1- 1 SWIRL: MODERtl\I CLASSIC TABLE LAMP SWIRL is a timeless blend of design and natural materials. Beautiful in living rooms, on night stands, desks, as a computer light, even on grand pianos. Another extraordinary exclusive design by New Haven Lighting. 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